Reading Strategies & First Week Highlights

HELLO my sweet friends!  I’ve been without internet access since last week.  Sad.  But now it’s restored and I’m ready to share a few things with you!!   Hard to believe I’ve been back in Kindergarten for 7 days.  It’s like I never left!  My babies are settled into a bit of a routine and I feel like things are running pretty well…so far :)  I forgot how much I LOVE this age!!!  EVERYTHING is new to them…books, centers, friends…it’s ALL new and I love seeing them *get it* for the first time! 

Last week was our first full week and it was jam packed full of SO much!  I’ve been researching Whole Brain Teaching and watching countless videos, so I decided to implement what I know into my class this year and I AM IN LOVE!!!!  My kids seem so much more engaged!!  Last week was all about practicing routines and procedures and taking LOTS of brain breaks!  And don’t forget the singing…BOY did we sing!!  Our favorite?!?!  The Banana Song! 

When we weren’t practicing procedures and routines, we were diving into Abby’s Crazy for Kinders Unit head first.  Jitter Juice was, hands down, a class favorite!!!!

In small group, we read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom and then had the kids make their own little Chicka trees.  This was a great little assessment to see how many of my kids knew how to identify, spell, and write their names.  I was also able to see how many of them had good one-to-one correspondence skills and who could/couldn’t write/identify the numeral to match the number of letters in their names.  I got this precious idea from April Larremore at Chalk Talk.  If I was still in first grade, I definitely would’ve done this activity, but instead of counting the number of letters in their names, I would’ve had them write the number of vowels and consonants and then I would’ve extended that into a whole group graph/sort activity.

In addition to practicing routines and procedures, I introduced Math Tubs, too.  Oh how I LOVE math tubs.  I can tell it’s going to take lots of practice to understand the procedures and expectations for math tubs, but I know the payoff will be SO worth it!  We started the year out with a few activities from Deedee Wills’ Math Stations packet.

 

I also created a little back to school one-to-one correspondence game board that the kids LOVE to play.  It’s been an awesome way to quickly assess which of my babies has a good handle on one-to-one, subitizing, and rote counting.

Click on the pic below to download.  If you want to read more about these little gameboards, click HERE.  We played these in first grade {with a little more rigor!} all the time, too!!!

We have this great little thing at my campus called “half groups”.  For two hours everyday, I only have half my class.  Group 1 leaves for an hour {for Science/Social Studies, Computer Lab, or Art} and I get to keep the other half.  When Group 1 comes back, Group 2 leaves :).  It’s pretty much the most amazing thing ever.  SO…when it’s time for literacy stations & guided reading, I only have about 8-9 kids in my room.  I’ve been able to do a quick letter/sound assessment on each of my kids and even have a little trial run guided reading with each of them.  I introduced a couple of my reading strategies that we’ve been using for the last few days. 

Click on the picture below to download your copy.

I keep my posters displayed on the wall behind my teacher table, and I use my little strategy sticks for quick reference during guided & shared reading.  I went ahead and added several strategies I’ve been using throughout the years…this verbage {for me} just kinda flows and my kids seem to pick up on the strategies quickly.  If you have any questions, just holler!

Whew!  I’m exhausted just reliving it all!  HA!!!  I’ve got lots more to share, but I’m tired.  Stay tuned for my Name Unit coming up this weekend!!!  Eeeeek!!!  SO excited to share it with y’all!!!! 

Have a GREAT rest of the week!!!!!